December 6, 2015

An interview with:

COACH KIRK FERENTZ

COACH DAVID SHAW
KAREN LINHART:
Hello, everyone,
welcome to today's teleconference for the Rose
Bowl Game presented by Northwestern Mutual.
I'm Karen Linhart, the media director for this game.
The Tournament of Roses is thrilled to be hosting
teams from our partner conferences in this year's
Rose Bowl Game. The Big Ten team in this year's
game will be the Iowa Hawkeyes; and the Stanford
Cardinal will represent the Pac-12 Conference.
I'm joined today by Iowa head coach Kirk
Ferentz, and Stanford head coach David Shaw. I'd
like to ask both coaches to give an opening
remark. Coach Ferentz?
COACH FERENTZ: We're just absolutely
thrilled to get the news today that we've been
invited to the Rose Bowl. I'm speaking on behalf of
our entire football team and everybody here, it's
just a really exciting thing for us. We're honored to
be involved in it.
The Rose Bowl is the most traditional Bowl
by far, and if you hear anything about it, you
always end up facing a top-notch opponent, and
we certainly are playing an excellent Stanford
team, the champions of the Pac-12. So we're just
really excited about the opportunity. We've got
great respect for what Coach Shaw has done with
his program and the success they've had overall,
but certainly this year they've had just a
tremendous season.
You know, were really excited about our
guys too. They've done a great job. It's been a lot
of fun to coach this team and be with this team on
a daily basis. We know we have one more big
challenge left and a lot of work to do between now
and New Year's. But just really excited about
what's in front of us.

KAREN LINHART: Thank you so much,

Coach Ferentz. Coach Shaw?
COACH SHAW: Thank you. I first want to
say hello to Coach Ferentz. I've heard so much
about you in my four years in Baltimore and all
those guys talked about spending time with you in
Baltimore and Cleveland, and the intelligence and
toughness and all those things that those places
always talk about, and your name came up
repeatedly throughout the year.
I'm a college football fan, and I love to
watch and see what's going on, to really watch
Iowa. I loved what Iowa did during the course of
this year as far as being one of those under-theradar teams that kept winning, that had to earn the
respect that it deserved throughout the year and
finally people started to notice the phenomenal job
that was going on there by the coaches and
players. And I want to say that after our first game
stumble, we kind of felt the same way. Just trying
to every game get better, every game be physical,
every game be tough, every game be smart, and
every game try to find a way to win. That's what
this season has been about for us.
We too are excited about going back to
Pasadena. The Rose Bowl people have been
phenomenal the times that we've gone, and we
expect the exact same this time.
It's a
phenomenal event.
Each day seems like
something great is going on, but at the same time
they let you do your work and prepare to play a
football game. I think that's a rare occurrence
nowadays with all the things that go on around it.
But we're looking forward to the week
down in Pasadena. Looking forward to the game
against a great opponent in the Iowa Hawkeyes.
Q. Just wondering, you guys are the next
two teams rated outside the top four. Wondering
how you feel if you would prefer there be an eightteam playoff or if you prefer things the way they
are?
COACH FERENTZ: Go ahead, David.
COACH SHAW: Yeah, thanks. You know,
for me, I'm not going to say anything different than
I've said since the playoff began, which was I think
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it's great. I think the four-team playoff is great. But

I've always thought that it's a beginning, and I've
said it over the first five or six years what we're
going to do with this thing is poke holes in it, find
out what works, what doesn't work.
But I do believe at some point it's going to
be an eight-team playoff. I think it's going to be
unavoidable. I'm not upset by any stretch of the
imagination. I just know that this year is part of the
process where you have these teams in Stanford
and Iowa, and Ohio State that you can make a
case that could be in a playoff, and it would be a
phenomenal playoff. So I have no problem with
where we are now. I just do believe eventually it
will become an eight-team playoff because it's the
only thing that makes sense.
We've done all this work to separate the
Power Five conferences, and now to say we have
four spots for a Power Five conferences doesn't
make any sense. So I think at some point we'll
make it eight.
But I'm fine with it the way it is now. To be
honest, I'm excited about playing in the Rose Bowl.
COACH FERENTZ: I feel really the same
way. I can see change coming down the road, but
to me it's just fine where it is right now. Everything
worked well last year. I think it's worked well this
year, and to David's point, if this is the consolation
prize, what a deal it is for both of us: Two
outstanding teams getting a chance to play
together in the best bowl. So it's just we feel very,
very fortunate. I just think it's good for college
football the way it is right now.
Q. Kirk, what does it mean to your program
to be in the Rose Bowl for the first time in more
than 20 years?
COACH FERENTZ:
Well, it's really
exciting.
Coincidentally, my first year as an
assistant here was Iowa's first appearance there in
19 years back in 1981, and then we were able to
go back a couple times under Coach Fry. That
was here in '85. And the year I left, I think they
went back in '90. So there is a run there three
times in a decade. We thought we were going in
2002. I think a lot of people at the Rose Bowl
thought we were going as well. We ended up
being undefeated in the Big Ten that season, and
that was the first year, I believe of the BCS system,
so we ended up going somewhere else. But we're
just excited.
I can tell you, the fans of Iowa are just
great fans in general, but I think I can speak for all
of them and just say they're really excited about

this as well. It's always had a very special place in

Iowans' hearts. They traveled well there in the
'50s, certainly did during Coach Fry's time, and my
guess is our fans will be well represented again
this year.
Q. Coach Shaw, you've been to the Rose
Bowl before. And I'd like Coach Ferentz to follow
on this. How much of a big deal is it just to kind of
have the whole nation watching at one time? I
mean, it's the only game on during that time slot.
I'm just curious if you've seen an advantage
recruiting-wise or otherwise for your program?
COACH SHAW: Well, first of all, for me
personally in particular being a son of a coach that
coached in the Pac-8 and the Pac-10, for me the
world stopped for the Rose Bowl. No matter what
was going on, you were stopped and watching the
Rose Bowl. We were getting up in the morning
and watching the Rose Parade. That's just part of
my entire life growing up, and that's exciting to me.
I love the way things have been
orchestrated repeatedly year after year that
nobody overlaps at the Rose Bowl. I think that's
exciting. And I think it has a special place in
America's heart and that's part of what we do on
New Year's. So that's exciting to me.
As a football team, and once again I
mentioned it earlier, the week of the Rose Bowl is
awesome, just the different events and things that
go on. But at the same time, being able to put the
work in and get ready to play a football game is
truly special. I mean, the Rose Bowl has the
formula to produce a phenomenal game, a
phenomenal experience and I can't wait.
COACH FERENTZ: I feel probably much
the same way.
I didn't grow up with that
background, but when I alluded to 1981, it was
really a magical year in Iowa football history after
19 years of not going to a Bowl game or having a
winning season, Iowa broke through that year
under Coach Fry. You might imagine it was a
really special time, and everything about being out
there was special. It was really a great education
for me.
As far as it being such a spotlight game, a
little bit like my six years in the NFL. If you played
in a Monday night game, and I was in the NFL
during the '90s before they had Sunday night,
Thursday night, Wednesday night, Friday night
NFL games too, that was really a big deal. It's
interesting how the players just played at a little bit
of a different level, and I think that's probably

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comparable to the Rose Bowl experience. It's just

a really special thing.
Q. Starting with Coach Shaw, you
mentioned you had an appreciation for Iowa this
year and watching them compete. How often did
you get to see Iowa play? And then Coach
Ferentz, you played a common opponent with
Stanford and Northwestern. Did you watch that
game as some of your preparation for
Northwestern?
COACH SHAW: Well, for me, I didn't get a
chance to see. I probably saw a quarter here and
a quarter there during the course of the year just
because, I mean, for the first -- for most of our
season, we're playing 7:30 p.m. games at night, so
I got a chance to see the beginning of a lot of
games. But for me it was just that Sunday getting
up and saying, oh, you know what, there is Iowa.
They won again and they're still not getting the
respect that they deserve. For me, I love that. I
love well-coached teams. I love teams that fight
and scrap and find a way to get what they deserve.
So that was the appreciation for me
throughout the course of the year, because I
always watch to see what's going on in college
football and who the talking heads point to. But
then what my eyes tell me as far as the teams that
go out on game day and find a way to get it done.
COACH FERENTZ: The first game of the
season seems like it was five years ago, let alone
four months ago or three months ago. So I really
don't think that game is totally representative of
Stanford. You think about a West Coast team
playing early in the morning, central time here.
And the other part is Northwestern is a very, very
good football team, as we all know. But I think it's
all about football, college football especially is all
about the progress a team makes, and certainly I
think our team has grown during the course of the
season week by week.
I do know I got a chance to see Stanford,
bits and pieces along the way, and got to see the
end of their Notre Dame game a week ago
Saturday. You know, what a fantastic game that
was, just two teams again just really competing
hard and really dramatic ending. Good players
coming up with big plays in critical moments, and
just all the nice things David said about our team, I
would echo that about Stanford football. When I
think about Stanford football, and we've watched
our tape through the years with great admiration
for the way they play, the attitude they play with,
and they've been good for a long, long time.

Certainly this is an outstanding Stanford team that

we're going to be facing.
Q. This is for both of you, when you look at
your styles of football, it kind of pales in
comparison as far as the perception that some of
the teams that like to spread it out, throw it up,
score 60 points a game. However, the way you've
been effective proves the value of what some
people may call old-man football. I guess your
philosophy, obviously, Kirk, we've known yours
over the years. But Coach Shaw, where did you
develop your philosophy, and how close do you
think you are to Iowa in just style or the formula to
success?
COACH SHAW: Well, as I mentioned
before, I'm the son of a football coach. My dad
was a defensive coach his entire career. I think I
always had an appreciation for defensive football
and the mentality it takes to be great on defense.
Offensively, I grew up a child of the '80s,
and, you know, grew up four years in Michigan and
before we moved out here to California and before
that in Arizona. That's how we played. That was
football. I had a high school coach that said if you
could get me four yards a carry running the ball on
every pass. Just that mentality of setting the tone
on offense, being physical up front, and then my
years of playing football and playing for some
really, really good football coaches and trying to be
just precise in the passing game with explosive
capabilities and playing situational football. That's
just the football that I grew up with that was
reinforced by the coaches that I had.
I do kind of chuckle sometimes when we're
referred to as a 1950 football team, which I think is
cool, because the style of football works, the style
of football wins, the style of football, to me, builds
character in young men because not everything is
going to be fast, and loose, and easy. Some things
are going to be hard, and tough, and physical. And
the guys learned that style of play and they learned
the lessons it has to life.
Q. I was hoping you could show us your
primary takeaway from working with Coach
Belichick? And David, if you could do the same for
your years with Coach Walsh?
COACH FERENTZ: Yeah, it would take a
long time to give you the full book. But the biggest
thing I would say that really stands out in my mind,
and there are a lot of things I could tell you, but his
organizational skills and then his thoroughness are
just unbelievable, unsurpassable. He had a good

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grasp of everything in the organization, and I think

what enabled him to do that.
He grew up starting at the bottom. He was
a quality control guy, the guy that ran people to the
airport and all that stuff when he started out for
Coach Marchibroda in Baltimore. So he basically
worked every job in the organization and had a
good, not only knowledge of, but an appreciation
for, and so any time he was critiquing someone in
any role, you knew that he had walked in that path
before. The information he was sharing was
usually pretty valuable.
He's just got a tremendous passion for the
game and for the people involved in the game. So
to be able to spend three years with him was really
a real treat for me.
COACH SHAW: As far as me and Coach
Walsh, I played for him for two years, and then he
was really my first mentor in this profession. Just
being around Bill Cowher, you always felt like you
were with the smartest guy in the room. Of course
it was years of experience, but much like Coach

Ferentz just said, a lot of it had to do with his

experience, but also his intuition on people,
motivating people and putting people in position to
be successful. Then what do you do? Take the
time to be an expert in it. Don't just be a guy that
knows what you're doing, but be an expert in all
facets of what you're doing. That's what you
always felt around Bill. There was nothing that
was going to come across his desk that didn't
have, if not three years, but the best answer for,
and that's what I try to challenge myself and
challenge my coaches to know the answers before
they're asked by our guys.
You have a bunch of guys that ask a lot of
questions being the Stanford kids that they are, of
course. But that is the thing with Bill, which was
let's explore everything before we ever get to game
day. So by the time we get to game day we have
the answers to the questions when they present
themselves.
FastScripts by ASAP Sports

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